GREATEST POEMS OF ALL by Jeff Callaway

THE GREATEST POEMS OF ALL
by Jeff Callaway


the greatest poems
are never written down
but lonely and forgotten
before a pen can be found
the greatest poems never find the ink
in the time it takes you to think
slowly with time they fade
and face the guillotine
of jilted poems and unrequited lovers
or glued to my own vague memory
of what could've been
if only i'd had a pen
and the recollection to keep repeating
what it was i was trying to say...

the greatest poems are girls who pour Dewar's on the rocks
down their breasts with a splash of water
as i drink it off...

the greatest poems lick the ink from the tip of my idea...

the greatest poems of all
get drunk from the bottle
straight no chaser
no requiem for a dream
no teen queen Chinese angels on the silver screen
no Hollywood Homecoming Queens
leaping side to side in ecstasy
or just beautiful girls who once gave me their phone numbers
or girls back in high school who kissed me
and later became strippers
midnight sirens to madness
mad drunker bar room brawls
bras, panties, imported beer...

the greatest poems of all
who put my drinks on their tab
and heavenly broads who brought me elixirs
which i did drink down into myself
the likes of absinthe sugar laudanum
or i read the Rhyme Of The Ancient Mariner
mad at midnight
typing poems furiously
towards glory or mayhem or maybe
for nothing at all
or maybe just for
the greatest poems of all...

so here here to the greatest poems of all...

to bikini contests
to Bikini Kill
to Bukowski
to Rimbaud and other roughnecks
to the wet t-shirts at Cedar Isle
and to the Cedar Creek Lake rememberers
who still remember all
of the greatest poems of all...

to Siberian Huskies named Marley
who lived in Dallas, Texas with Dirty Phil
and to Dirty Phil
to pain and pills and poems
to words that slide into lyrical oblivion
sometimes these can be the greatest poems of all times
dare i say the better poems that can rise
from poets here today
like drunken ramblings
drunken one nighters
far beyond driven drunk drivers and Dracula
no more drama
but more hot actresses
sexy angel poetess
prostitutes
politics
to the Texas Outlaw Press
and to all of the greatest poems of all...

to Polly to Pam to the paranormal...

to the ghosts of the greatest poems of all...

to the ghouls
to the Grim Reaper
to death
and it's poetic casting call to us all...

i'd like to give a shout out
to the gangsters of the ghettos of Grand Prairie
to the hypodermic hipsters of Plano
who never made it
never got to hear the greatest poems of all...

to poems that got kicked out of Magnolia
for chunking saltshakers
fat jokes
plastic chairs
who never sweat the petty shit but always pet the sweaty shit
from shinola to shangri-la
from 26th and San Gabriel
to the angel Gabriel
from trumpets to cherubim...

to these crazy insane hot American chicks
who love poets, poems and palm pilots...

to an Austin Poetry Renaissance or to purgatory...

how 'bout another round of drinks
to the greatest poets
and poems of all...